Mad About Books - Raising a Child Who Loves to Read

I'm at the Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival in March. I'm giving a talk to parents on raising a child who loves to read. This is the recommended book list for that talk.

 Mad About Books – Raising a Child Who Loves to Read

Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival 2013

Recommended Titles

1/ Babies and Toddlers – Birth to Age 2+

Sing them lullabies, read them nursery rhymes

A good nursery rhyme book – with art work you love – eg Sally Go Round the Stars (Sarah Webb – Irish)

Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli (Board book)

Where’s Spot? By Eric Hill (Board book) 2/ Toddlers of Age 2 +

Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell (Irish)

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury

A Bit Lost by Chris Haughton – (Irish)

Other books to try: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt – Michael Rosen Farmer Duck – Martin Waddell Alfie’s Feet – Shirley Hughes Dear Zoo – Rod Campbell

3/ Younger Children – age 3 or 4 +

Fairy Tales – invest in a good collection

Oliver Jeffers – Lost and Found, The Heart in the Bottle (Irish)

Chris Judge – The Brave Beast (Irish)

Mo Willems – Knuffle Bunny, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Niamh Sharkey - Irish Children's Laureate  and picture book maker

Other titles to try: Clarice Bean, That’s Me – Lauren Child Olivia by Ian Falconer There are Cats in this Book by Vivian Schwarz Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans Lunchtime by Rebecca Cobb (a new picture book maker) Wolves by Emily Gravett Dogger by Shirley Hughes Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Jill Kerr I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klaussen Marshall Armstrong is New To Our School by David Mackintosh (Irish) Busy Busy World by Richard Scarry The Brave Beast by Chris Judge (Irish) The Gruffalo and other picture books by Julia Donaldson

4/ Early Readers – Age 5/6+

Series books for very first readers:

Elephant and Piggie Series by Mo Willems

The Cat in the Hat and other books by Dr Seuss

Books for young readers to read for themselves:

Roddy Doyle’s The Giggler Treatment (Irish)

The Worst Boy in the World by Eoin Colfer (Irish)

Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald

The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy 5/ Books to Read Aloud to Age 5+

The Secret Garden, Ballet Shoes and any of your personal favourite classics as a child.

Charlotte’s Web by E B White

Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearse

The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo

Roald Dahl - Fantastic Mr Fox and Matilda – pick the Dahl titles that you love the most

If they like Dahl they might also like David Walliams – who has written books like Mr Stink

6/ Confident Readers of 9+   J K Rowling Eoin Colfer (Irish) Anthony Horowitz Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan Derek Landy – Skulduggery Pleasant (Irish) Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney The Tom Gates series by L Pichon – great for Wimpy kid fans

Family/friendship books: Cathy Cassidy Jacqueline Wilson Ask Amy Green series by Sarah Webb – age 10+ Judy Blume – Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret Judi Curtin (Irish)

Award winners: Wilderness by Roddy Doyle (Irish) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead – age 10+

Other titles to try: Holes by Louis Sacher Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech Northern Lights – Philip Pullman

7/ Older Readers of 11+

Wonder by R J Palacio

Patrick Ness – A Monster Calls The Knife of Never Letting Go

John Green – The Fault in Our Stars

The Arrival – Shaun Tan

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne (Irish)

Other titles to try: Skellig – David Almond Maus by Art Spigelman (graphic novel) Coraline by Neil Gaiman The Hunger Games series Sabriel by Gareth Nix 8/ Books for Reluctant Readers

Audio books Where’s Wally? Quiz, joke and puzzle books Non fiction – sports biographies Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey The Wimpy Kid books Sports magazines Playstation magazines 9/ Books for Tired Parents

That’s Not My series – published by Usborne

Hug by Jez Alborough

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell 10/ Books for Parents Who Want to Know More

The Ultimate Teen Guide The Ultimate First Book Guide Both published by A and C Black

Babies Need Books by Dorothy Butler

Mad About Books: The Dubray Guide to Children’s Books by Sarah Webb www.dubraybooks.ie

More about Irish writers and picture book makers: www.childrensbooksireland.ie

Remember:

1/ Choose books that YOU love to read aloud to your children 2/ Be seen reading 3/ Talk about books with your children 4/ Make books part of your family’s history and everyday life

Social Media for Writers - What You Need to Know

Social media can be a minefield for writers. Seen by publishers as a cheap, convenient and effective way for writers to communicate with their readers, it makes many writers new to the medium very nervous. Which is better - Facebook or Twitter?

How often should I post or tweet?

What exactly should I be posting or tweeting about?

I spoke to Cormac Kinsella, publicity director of Repforce Ireland for his opinion. (And thanks to Cormac for his time and expertise!)

He said:

Enjoy social media for it's own sake.

Don't just tweet and post when you have a book out.

Engage with other people on social media.

Offer something - share information, links and observations.

Post/tweet about things that you are interested in.

(Books, writing, movies, music . . . whatever you are passionate about and would like to share with others.)

Don't use use it for self-promotion.

He recommended following @nadineoregan @eithneshortall @sineadgleeson and @guardianbooks to see how it's done.

And you can follow Cormac himself here - @cormackinsella

I find a lot of children's book writers and picture book makers use Facebook more than Twitter. Teen readers love Facebook and are not so interested in Twitter. Adults who are interested in children's books are generally on both. Some people post hourly, others post daily or even weekly. As long as you don't bore people, it's completely up to you. Do try to avoid the 'Had eggs for breakfast' type of posts/tweets, unless you are eating them in Paris or they are ostrich eggs!

I have two Facebook pages - one for my Ask Amy Green readers - www.facebook.com/askamygreen and one for my adult readers. I also use Twitter - @sarahwebbishere. I dip and out of both daily and find it's a great way to chat to readers, find out book news, and share information and ideas with the wider book community.

Maybe you will enjoy it too. Try it and see. You can always delete your account if it's not for you.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

My Predictions for the CBI Book Awards 2013

CBI Children’s Book Awards 2013 (for books published in 2012) In early March the shortlist for the CBI (Children’s Books Ireland) Book Awards will be announced. Every year I make my predictions, or as Kim Harte puts it I become ‘Mystic Web’. Yes, I am on the Board of CBI but I am not on the judging panel and these are my opinions only.

Who do YOU think will win? It’s a hard one to call as there is no clear winner this year, but my money is on Sarah Crossan or Derek Landy.

Here are my predictions for this year’s shortlist: (There are usually 9 or 10 books on the shortlist – I’ll go for 10)

1/ Sarah Crossan for The Weight of Water Sarah’s book is masterful. The tale of a young Polish girl and her new life in London, it’s beautifully written and the voice is perfectly pitched. If she doesn’t win the Eilís Dillon (first book), I’ll be very surprised. In fact, she could win the overall award.

2/ Oh, No George by Chris Haughton Another strong picture book from the previous winner of the award.

3/ The Great Explorer by Chris Judge Chris’s strong, graphic style is a real winner and his new book (out in March), The Brave Beast is fantastic. He’s just getting better and better.

4/ An tOllamh Gorm (as there is generally an Irish language book on the shortlist) by Gabriel Rosenstock is certainly in the running.

5/ This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers Great book, but my favourites remain The Heart and the Bottle and Lost and Found.

6/ Tatyana Feeny’s Small Bunny’s Blue Blanket might be a sneaky one. A very talented young Irish illustrator.

7/ Will Patricia Forde and Steve Simpson get a nomination for Mise Agus an Dragún? Or will he be nominated for his artwork on Cáca don Rí (wonderful illustrations)? He’s certainly another one to watch.

8/ John Boyne’s The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket is a definite contender. I thought Cave of Secrets by Morgan Llywelyn was excellent and deserves a nomination. And Dark Warning by Marie-Louise Fitzgerald may also impress the judges. Grounded by Sheena Wilkinson is a possibility also. I’ll hedge my bets and say Morgan or John, but maybe Marie-Louise or Sheena. Cheating, I know!

10/ This year they must surely put DEREK LANDY on the shortlist. Yes, his books are hugely popular but Kingdom of the Wicked is genius – cracking dialogue, brilliant plot, amazing voice. Surely it’s his year?

10 and 1/2/ And finally – it’s about time that Michael Emberley got a nod too! I’m a huge fan of his work.

Books that are unlikely to be nominated (but you never know) are:

Now there has never been a board book on the list - and I would put Mary Murphy’s Slow Snail on the shortlist as it’s the perfect blend of image and text for a very young child - but it’s unlikely to be on the actual list.

Love, Lucie by Marita Conlon-McKenna Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer Friend Forever: Double Trouble by Judi Curtin (and her Eva book)

Michael Scott’s Enchantress Ask Amy Green: Dancing Daze (amazing book! ;) ) And Darren Shan’s Brothers to the Death